[Star86]

I would very much appreciate your opinion about accounting careers, in general, especially from any seasoned professionals. Do you think that most, if not, all accounting jobs are fast-paced? Many accounting jobs that I see, so far, seem to be fast-paced.

If not, then what industries or types of accounting jobs, do you think, are NOT fast-paced?

Thank you!

[charlesrskinner]

80% are high stress and fast paced. If you want something mellow you should look into local, state, or federal government jobs. The red tape slows things down. Do not go into a CPA firm unless you are ready for a fast paced environment.

[Anonymous]

Accounting is generally fast-paced, yes, at least/especially at certain time periods (which vary based on the sector). The slower-paced areas are government jobs and non-profits, depending on the non-profit.

I will say, though, that outside of public accounting (and even somewhat true within public), it's not “high paced” in a “something new every 5 minutes way”, but more of a “deadline every week/month/quarter” way. So, to compare it to, say, a job in a call center, there's 50 phones ringing constantly, and as soon as you hang up one call, there's a new call to answer, and you've got a quota to meet of so many calls/sales/etc. per hour. In accounting, you won't have that, but you'll have this pile of work that has to be completed by the end of the audit (auditors) or end of tax season (tax people) or end of the month/quarter/before auditors arrive (private) or some other frequency. It's high paced because there's usually a lot to get done and just barely enough people to get it done (and sometimes it feels like there might not be enough), but it's rarely hectic in a “people running everywhere can't keep up” sort of way. I don't do well with hectic, but thrive in demanding (at least in the short-term – I may look 70 when I'm 40, give me 15 years and I'll see lol), so accounting has been a good fit for me cause it's the demanding sort of high-paced but not the hectic sort of high-paced.

[Author]

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